This invention generally relates to dental x-rays, and more particularly to an improved dental x-ray packet which includes an improved protective jacket containing an unexposed dental x-ray film which facilitates marking patient I.D. on each x-ray film.
Reference is made to my U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,974 directed to a dental x-ray patient identification marking device, to my pending application Ser. No. 07/689,228 which is directed to a dental x-ray patient identification camera and to my pending application Ser. No. 07/607,163, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,033, which is directed to, inter alia, an improved dental x-ray film and packet therefor.
Conventional methods of marking dental x-rays are as described in my above-referenced '974 patent wherein a conventional dental x-ray identification camera is utilized. The identification camera produces a focused light source for exposing the patient I.D. information onto a portion of exposed but undeveloped dental x-ray. This patient I.D. information, prior to the '974 patent was applied by simply manually aligning and arranging written indicia on a card with a portion of the x-ray film, a hit or miss procedure at best.
The '974 patent introduced a means for accurately locating and exposing patient I.D. indicia onto only a specific strip positioned transversely across one end of the dental x-ray film.
Although this arrangement is a significant improvement, nonetheless the patient I.D. indicia still remains somewhat less than clear and readable because the entire x-ray film has been initially exposed to x-ray radiation within the patient's mouth. The additional light source exposure produced by the identification camera against written or typed patient I.D. information to produce the additional x-ray image on the already x-ray irradiated film leaves an element of clarity and density to be desired in the patient I.D. information.
The present invention introduces a dental x-ray film packet which is improved in structure to prevent x-ray radiation from striking the transverse strip of the dental x-ray film during initial exposure within the patient's mouth. Thereafter, use of the I.D. camera as disclosed in the '228 application and the marking device as taught in the '974 patent may be more effectively utilized for producing sharper, easier to read patient I.D. information on each exposed and developed dental x-ray.